CIA lawyer omits woman's shooting in Bin Laden raid

4/12/12 1:51 PM EDT

When the CIA’s top lawyer spoke at Harvard Law School earlier this week, he tried to avoid the dry, sleep-inducing kind of talk that government attorneys usually give in public.

However, in spicing his speech up with a dramatic account of the joint CIA-military raid that killed Osama bin Laden, CIA General Counsel Stephen Preston omitted a relevant part of that narrative.

While he lauded the U.S. commandos on the raid for their bravery in protecting the civilians at bin Laden’s compound, Preston failed to note that one of bin Laden’s wives was shot in the leg by the Americans—a fact that was previously acknowledged by the White House.

“The operation itself was a great triumph for our military,” Preston told the Harvard Law audience on Tuesday, according a prepared text of his remarks posted on the Lawfare blog. “More dramatic than any work of fiction: the tension at the outset, the sickening feeling when one of the helos went down, the seeming eternity waiting to find out if the objective was achieved, and the relief when the last helo lifted off with the force unharmed….”

“There’s the guy first in the room with bin Laden. Charged by two young women. Trained to expect suicide bombers in these circumstances. He grabbed them, shoved them into a corner and threw himself on top of them, shielding them from the shooting and shielding the guys behind him from the blast if they detonated. His quick thinking, and raw bravery, saved two lives that did not have to end that night,” Preston said.

Someone hearing Preston’s remarks who was unfamiliar with previous accounts of the operation would probably not think that what he describes as the process of protecting the women from combat involved shooting one of them. In addition, the phrase “shielding them from the shooting” seems misleading, especially since the same Navy Seal whom Preston describes as leading that effort appears to be the one who shot the woman.

Al-Sadah and two other wives have been detained with their children in an Islamabad home since the raid and were recently convicted on charges of illegally entering Pakistan. A video released by Al-Arabiya this week showed what the network described as the three wives in the Islamabad house where they're confined. The video shows no crutches, wheelchairs or similar appliances, but all the women are seated and it's difficult to identify which of them is al-Sadah, who was 29 at the time of the raid and recently turned 30.

In addition, according to the most recent White House account of the raid, one woman was shot and killed during crossfire in another part of the operation, in addition to two men said to be couriers for bin Laden.

The Obama administration’s account changed significantly in the days after the operation last May. Initially, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan said bin Laden grabbed one of his wives and used her as a human shield, resulting in her being shot and killed. A Pentagon account said bin Laden was firing from behind the woman.

A subsequent White House account said the woman ran towards the U.S. raid team as it entered bin Laden’s bedroom and was shot in the leg. The revised account dropped claims that bin Laden was armed and that there had been a firefight.Then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates publicly complained that the White House had agreed no operational details would be released about the operation, but then that “all fell apart.”

The Obama administration has been under pressure in recent months from both critics of its anti-terrorism operations and some supporters of them to be more public in its explanation of the legal framework that applies to the fight. Those calls led to a speech by Attorney General Eric Holder last month laying out the legal basis for the administration use of armed drones, also known as “targeted killing.”

CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblood confirmed the contents of Preston’s speech and said it was intended to shed additional light on the legal issues the agency confronts in its anti-terrorism work.

“His remarks are designed to promote a better understanding of the Agency and, specifically, demystify the legal framework relevant to covert action activities,” she said.